Vaccines

Malaria remained the greatest threat to children in Africa, particularly in the sub-Saharan region of the continent, and in 2007 at least nine vaccines were in development. One vaccine, being developed by GlaxoSmithKline and tentatively named Mosquirix, reduced the risk of infection from malaria by 65% after the course of three shots and was shown to offer protection to infants under one year of age.

Health officials believed that a new meningitis vaccine that was being used for West African children would make it possible to eliminate the meningococcal epidemics that had afflicted the continent for more than 100 years. The Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) reported in June that preliminary results of a phase-two vaccine trial showed that the vaccine was safe and could slash the incidence of epidemics in the “meningitis belt,” which extended through 21 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. MVP (a partnership between WHO and Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization) was working with an Indian firm to produce the new vaccine against serogroup A Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus). The vaccine was expected to block infection and extend protection to the entire population, including those who had not been vaccinated.

Researchers who were trying to develop a vaccine to treat Alzheimer disease had hit several roadblocks in recent years but now believed that they were moving forward. In a study with mice, American scientists found that a transdermal, or skin-patch, vaccine was safe and effective in clearing away brain plaques that were associated with the disease. The vaccine worked by stimulating the immune system to act against beta-amyloid, the protein that accumulates in the brain plaques. The results of the study indicated that the side effects that had plagued a previous human vaccine could be potentially eliminated. In an earlier clinical trial, a small percentage of study participants developed brain inflammation as an autoimmune response and died.

Pharmaceuticals

An inexpensive antimalarial pill, developed through a multinational collaboration of universities and pharmaceutical companies, was introduced in March. The medicine, called ASAQ, was to cost less than $1 for adults and less than 50 cents for children. The medicine combined amodiaquine with artemisinin, which was derived from sweet wormwood. Doctors believed that combining the two antimalarial drugs would reduce the possibility that resistance to either drug would develop.

The sale and distribution of counterfeit drugs reached crisis proportions in Asia in 2007, and experts reported that the problem was growing worldwide. Counterfeiters appeared to target antimalarial medications—artemisinin, in particular—though fake antibiotics and other counterfeit drugs were also reported. In some cases fake antimalarial drugs contained inert substances such as chalk or starch, but in other cases they contained potentially dangerous drugs. WHO estimated that the number of avoidable malaria deaths that resulted from the inadvertent use of counterfeit drugs ranged from tens of thousands to more than 200,000 every year. In China, which was believed to be the source of most of the world’s fake drugs, the former chief of China’s food and drug administration was executed in July for having taken $850,000 from pharmaceutical companies and having approved fake drugs.

Stem Cells

Stem-cell research took a promising new turn in 2007 when two separate research teams, one based in Japan and the other in the United States, reported that they had been able to turn human skin cells into cells similar to embryonic stem cells. The development could have far-reaching implications, because the process of acquiring embryonic stem cells involved destroying embryos and had therefore been at the centre of a long-standing controversy. Supporters for embryonic stem-cell research argued that the potential to cure disorders such as diabetes and Alzheimer disease made the research worthwhile, whereas opponents considered the destruction of embryos to be unethical. In the new research, both groups of scientists added four master regulatory genes to the skin cells. (Each group used only two of the same genes.) The genes reprogrammed the skin cells to have characteristics of a pluripotent stem cell. Such a cell had the potential to develop into the more than 200 types of human cells that constituted the body’s tissues and organs. The induced pluripotent stem cells required further study and evaluation, but the researchers said that they would be in a position to create patient- and disease-specific stem cells without using human eggs or embryos. Such cells could help scientists understand disease mechanisms and aid in the search for safe and effective drugs.

Genome Research

Ongoing research into the human genome was helping to pinpoint the causes of various diseases and eventually could lead to new drugs and treatments. The findings were part of a continuing wave of discoveries made by means of DNA microarrays, or chips, which could quickly read the sequence of human DNA at up to 500,000 points across an individual’s genome. In an approach called whole-genome association, scientists were using the technology to compare the genomes of large numbers of patients with those of healthy individuals to identify differences that might be associated with disease.

In June scientists in Britain reported that with whole-genome association they had detected DNA variations that underlay seven common diseases. Their work revealed the genetics of bipolar disorder, coronary artery disease, Crohn disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Similarly, researchers in Iceland and Sweden discovered the genetic basis for a major type of glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, and two independent research teams in Germany and Iceland identified three variant sites on the human genome that predisposed people to restless legs syndrome—a condition characterized by an urge to move the legs, typically when at rest. In addition, researchers in May reported finding six variant sites on the genome that increased the risk of breast cancer. The discovery added to already-identified genes and accounted for most of the overall genetic risk of breast cancer.

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